Sunday, November 11, 2012

Peace Accord

The Mindanao peace accord
is a confirmation that “daang matuwid” will move us
forward as a nation. Still we must be guardedly optimistic especially
when individuals and/or parties remain skeptical if not opposed. And
the administration would do a world of good to keep them engaged.
Deep-seated concerns don’t just go away. And personal interests
could indeed derail collective progress. But sincere efforts to
engage disgruntled elements would minimize if not eliminate the
downsides.

Transition efforts no
matter how sincere would take some doing as experienced by Eastern
Europe where to some it is taking a lifetime. But still we can’t
afford not to capitalize on the Mindanao peace accord. People, like
consumers, can’t be fooled. For example, “daang matuwid”
must come down to the barangay level. Nature is
hierarchical and why local bosses come about. It takes the civilized
man to overcome nature’s hierarchy. (And why the late Cardinal
Carlo Maria Martini was critical of the Vatican, being 200 years out
of date.) In Eastern Europe to be tsar-like is rewardingly
intoxicating. And in the US we have our “hot dogs”!

But hot dogs don’t
necessarily build a culture of innovation, which is what the 21st
century world is about. For instance, how does the West overcome the
loss of manufacturing to China? The US cannot simply harp on their
history of successes. And unfortunately financial engineering is not
the way to go. Many years ago when derivatives first hit a bad patch
it became clear that creating tangible value is key, not some mirage
or financial mambo-jumbo. And later on the Eastern Europeans, after
the initial euphoria with the stock market, had to learn that the
stock market ought to be founded on enterprises that create value.
And in the small countries in Europe the bias must be to become
regional if not global players. This was on top of going through a
property boom that went bust.

The
good thing is their country’s leadership is accelerating
infrastructure development while attracting technology enterprises
from the West to make them a regional hub. And to their credit, they
have built a modern airport with the requisite fly-over access to the
main avenue and the city center; and the new subway system is well on
its way to completion. They have the highway network to their seaside
which attracts loads of tourists from the West practically done, and
they are busily – in a more accelerated fashion – working on the
highway to the border in the south that will ease travel to their
mountains. They attract skiers from the West. This is the kind of
mindset we can use in Mindanao and beyond especially the discipline .
. . to prioritize.

Yet
my Eastern European friends can’t ignore the imperative of creating
a culture of innovation – beyond being activity-driven they must
attain that desired state. Technology is a great leg to develop yet
the object is the ability to create tangible products. Fortunately
they’ve already overcome the first hurdle by looking beyond cheap
products their compatriots could afford – which they realized had
dictated their inward-looking bias. [And which we Filipinos have yet
to realize: low-priced products may generate volumes and yield
margins but the greater benefit from innovation comes in higher
valued-added products that will find a broader international market
and spawn corollary industries locally thus realize their multiplier
effect.] And they’ve become globally competitive, developing across
their four businesses products for a wider world. And with Asia a new
addition to their geography, erecting facilities there is on the
drawing board. But the excitement comes in the thinking and the
discipline that undergirds the pursuit of the next generation of
products. Instead of creating hot dogs they’ve created
cross-functional teams that are moving up the learning curve
developing higher value-added products, not by chance but via a
virtuous cycle.

These
people went though very tough times, and our folks in Mindanao could
say something similar, and many are still pessimistic. And both need
forward-looking leaders that will lead them away from primitive times
and into the civilized age, where value-creation or innovation is
rewarded, not hierarchy – because of its attendant poverty.

Genesis of this Blog

Now a book

Advocacy

About Me

I started writing to columnists and newspaper editors at the end of a trip to the Philippines over Holy Week in 2008 – to echo the frustrations expressed by friends and relations that were much louder and more intense than prior trips. My first thought was: with so much talents and skills how could the country be the basket case of Asia? Are we simply too nice as a people? Since then I have kept abreast with local news and opinions.
I have been a business consultant (since 2003) focused on Eastern Europe. My principal client in Bulgaria, a consumer-products maker, was chosen by the European Business Awards in 2011 as among Europe’s best from the 15,000 companies vetted for the selection. I started my career in 1968 in human resources in the Philippines. I then joined a Fortune 500 company in 1981, working with its Manila subsidiary for seven years and later moved up to its Asian regional headquarters and finally assumed a global responsibility (in global strategy, organization and business competitiveness) until my retirement. I have likewise done consulting work in the Philippines. I live with my family in Stamford, Connecticut, USA.